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AUTHOR: 


HENDRICKSON,  G. 


TITLE: 


HORACE'S  PROPEMPTI 
CON  TO  VIRGIL 

PLACE: 

S.L 

DA  TE : 

1908 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


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Hendrickson,  G.  L. 

245  10 

Horace's  Propetnpticon  to  Viraiirhtmicrof orml 

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Printed  ant  the  University  of  Chicago  press. 

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MRNUFPCTURED   TO  RUM  STflNDRRDS 
BY   RPPLIED   IMRGE.    INC. 


Preprinted  from  Thi  Classical  Journal,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  3,  January,  i 


908 


HORACE'S  PROPEMPTICON  TO  VIRGIL 


G.  L.  HENDRICKSON 


PRINTED  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 


"71      ' 


■1. 


Preprinted  from  The  Classical  Journal.  Vol.  Ill,  No.  3.  January,  i 


908 


HORACE^S  PROPEMPTICON  TO  VIRGIL 


-  V    J 


f  1 


irVv 


\  '^.. 


G.  L.  HENDRICKSON 


PRINTED  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 


lii^''" 


A  ■'*^*•^l,  'j<if 


'^ta<- 


HORACE'S  PROPEMPTICON  TO  VIRGIL 

By  G.  L.  Hendrickson 
The  University  of  Chicago 

^«  fi,A  annearance  of  Professor  C.  H.  Moore's 

It  is  remarkable  that  after  the  tust  eigni  ^^^       j^ 

r£gtw*ot Su^t^  ideas  we.  here,  when  VirgU  was  just  about  to 

show  such  enterprise  by  undertaking  tha  voyage. 

The  feeUne  of  the  editor  I  could  weU  enough  understand    but  I 

Mt  thSLe  degree  he  had  miss«i  the  significant  of  Ae  .fiec.on 

on  man's  audacity,  and  their  relation  to  the  preceding  prayer  for 

.«fo  r^^^livprv  of  Virgil  to  the  shores  of  Attica. 

"  My  own  coLeptL  of  the  matter  had  been  that  these  reflections 

tho^I  put  in  the  enunciative  form,  were  in  reaUty  an  expression  of 

S  an  imprecation  upon  man's  audacious  enterprise,  which  had 

S^Uoie^'eansofsepa^tingfriends.    This  explanation  is  adequa 

ZaZ  it  seems  to  me,  natural.  It  was  entertained  by  the  author  of 
and,  as  it  seems  lo  m  ,  ^^  ^  ^^  ^^  ^^ 

the  Pseudo-Acroman  schoUa,    ana  oi  muu  v-  *  ;t  ,«nct  hp 

^Lented  by  L.  Miiller,  and  probably  by  others.  Yet  it  must  be 
Sat  Aether  because  of  its  obviousness  or  because  the  connection 
L^en  iTslLl,  it  is  not  found  in  many  of  the  commentanes  to  which 
m^e  ref^  Even  KiessUng,  who  was  by  far  the  most  penetrating 
Sare..orsipues..sofhte.^^^^^^ 

to  point  out  the  real  ^•8^5'^'"=^,°!*'^'  ^_,  But  the  matter 
its  conformity  to  the  ^^"^^[^'^^^ZlT^ng  the  last  number 
was  dismissed  and  o^-^^^/"  ^^  :^  ™Ltrian  scholar, 
t'TSlt^^^^iXflo  Moore  and  probably  independ- 

I  Aihmas  «<n»«o«»    ''i  »  temeritatem  navtgandt  descendu. 

.  "Uebrigens  ist  die  Ode  wemger   Gelegenheitsgeaicnt,  a. 
Erguss  ttber  die  Vermessenheit  menscUichen  Strebens. 

lOO 


HORACE'S  PROPEMPTICON  TO  VIRGIL  loi 

ently  of  him,  insists  on  the  tactlessness  of  Horace  in  holding  before 
Virgil  the  tale  of  man's  impiety,  complains  of  the  lack  of  connection 
between  the  two  parts  of  the  ode,  finds  that  interpreters  are  helpless 
in  the  face  of  it,  and  finaUy  concludes  that  we  have  here  two  entirely 
separate  poems.  This  conclusion  of  course  need  scarcely  be  taken 
senously,  but  the  partial  coincidence  of  his  criticisms  with  those  of 
Professor  Moore  suggests  that  a  certain  incongruity  may  have  been 
felt  here  by  other  readers  of  Horace,  and  will  perhaps  justify  an  effort 
to  point  out  the  exact  nature  of  the  "tactlessness"  of  which  Horace 
is  guilty,  and  the  place  of  such  utterances  in  poems  of  this  kind 

The  situation  which  the  propempticon  presents  is  of  two  friends 
or  lovers  whose  happiness  in  each  other  is  broken  into  by  the  necessity 
of  separation.    The  one  who  is  left  behind  prays  of  course  for  the 
safe  journey  of  the  other,  but  he  does  it  with  an  anxious  and  foreboding 
heart   unreconciled  to  the  thought  of  separation.    His  mood  is  not 
one  of  cheering  fareweU  and  of  reassuring  hopes,  but  of  grief  and 
protestation.    The  elements  of  the  propempticon,  therefore,  in  the 
logical  sequence  of  the  emotions  involved  are:    (i)  the  outburst  of 
gnef,  and  (2)  since  it  must  be,  the  prayer  for  safe  passage  and  return. 
The  whole  matter  is  put  quite  simply  and  clearly  by  the  late  theorist 
Menander,  as  follows  (Spengel  Rhet.  Graec.  Ill,  p.  396,  2): 

Wow  tTf   1  ^,.°''«'.^°.  ^  though  some  monstrous  and  unexpected 

blow  had  faUen  upon  hmi  wUl  cry  out  upon   (^x^W«)  Fate  or  the  Cves 

that  they  do  not  permit  the  bond  of  friendslip  to  remain  secur..  ' 

And  at  397,  13 : 

fnVn'^^f "  T  ™"  "^'f'  '^""  ('X-W«0  with  a  view  of  dissuading  (your 
fa  nd  ft^m  hjs  purpose);  then  failing  of  that  you  will  bring  in  some  such  utter- 
ance as  th^:  •  W  then  it  is  determined  and  I  am  overboL,  let  me  acquiesce 
m  your  will  and  help  it  forward.""  -^uicsu: 

«W.,^.^^  '*  "'  ^«  '*'"^'>-  "■'>0^>^>-'."  Itrprobable  that  ^tlrluZZZ 
the  »x«tW^  of  the  propempticon,  Cicero  De  mv.  i.  loo  (under  the  treatment  J 
«».  Muc^  at  eo  ^un,  liienlisH^  Wi,,  «,  a  parent,  filio,  ^Z^nti^ 


JO,  THE  CLASSICAL  JOURNAL 

The  scheme  that  is  here  suggested,  with  its  two  elements  of  protest  and 
in  the  end,  favoring  prayers,  is  carried  out  in  all  its  essentials  by  Ovid 
in  Amores  ii.  n,  the  theme  of  which  is  a  contemplated  voyage  of 
Corinna.  It  is,  in  conformity  with  the  erotic  style  and  the  author  s 
manner,  treated  with  more  emotional  vehemence  than  Horace's  ode, 
but  in  structure  it  is  closely  parallel. 

It  begins  with  the  complaint  or  o-x€T\«»<r/«fe,  which  Menander 
enjoins,  the  theme  of  which  is  the  same  as  in  Horace,  deprecation  of 
man's  wickedness  and  inventiveness: 

O  utinam  nequis  remo  freta  longa  moveret. 
This  is  followed  by  a  dire  tale  of  the  perils  of  the  deep,  in  which  Ovid 
does  not  spare  the  tender  heart  of  Corinna,  but  brings  the  suggestion 
of  death  very  close  to  her.    Modem  taste  finds  it  overdone    and 
ancient  criticism  would  doubtless  have  felt  in  it  a  violation  of  tha 
eiibv^ia  which  rhetorical  theory  demanded  of  the  propempticon. 
But  if  she  will  not  be  dissuaded  from  her  purpose  (and  dissuasion 
seems  to  be  the  justification  of  the  painful  picture  which  he  has 
drawn-^X«-^<^««  *»  ;8ou\i,<?eW  -^eUrai),  may  the  gods  of  the  deep 
and  favoring  winds  attend  her-rj  fiovX^ce,  awBpd^,i.eu- 

At  si  vana  ferunt  volucres  mea  dicta  procellafi, 
Aequa  tamen  puppi  sit  Galatea  tuae,  etc., 
and  the  poem  turns  thus  to  a  prayer  for  the  protecting  favor  of  the  gods 
who  rule  4e  se^-Karaarp4fu,  Sk  ek  evxh"  rov  Xoyou  a.ra,v  -naph 
0,&v  tA  KdWurra  (Menander  399,  9)-  The  agreement  in  structure 
between  Ovid's  elegy  and  Menander's  precepts  reveals  that  the 
component  elements  of  the  propempticon  were  defined  by  usage,  and 
doubtless  by  theory  also,  before  Ovid's  time.  Upon  such  twofold 
source  of  tradition  both  Horace  and  Ovid  are  dependent. 

I  shall  not  go  on  to  cite  and  compare  in  detail  the  mo^f, -Jaborately 
composed  poem  of  this  type  which  has  survived  to  us  from  antiquity, 
the  Propempticon  Maecio  Celeri  of  Statius.  It  contains  the  same 
motives  as  we  have  found  in  the  poems  of  Horace  and  Ovid:  the 
prayer  for  safety,  which  may  be  caUed  the  propempticon  proper,  and 
L  outburst  of  grief  and  protestation.  In  detail  it  reveals  considerab  e 
imitation  of  Horace,  and  of  Ovid  too,  but  it  is,  I  am  sure,  a  mistake  to 

.  Menander  p.  395=  >*r<»  *"i  '^'  «**«^"'  "*  ""'"'"'  '^  *'"^""- 


HORACE'S  PROPEMPTICON  TO  VIRGIL  103 

say  with  most  editors  of  Horace,  that  it  is  merely  a  diffuse  imitation 
of  Horace's  ode.  A  truer  statement  would  be  that  Statius  represents 
with  most  fubiess  and  completeness  the  varied  motives  which  this 
form  had  developed  in  the  earlier  practice  of  poets  and  in  the  precepts 
of  the  school.  He  covers  therefore  with  his  composition  nearly  aU 
the  extant  examples  of  the  type,  and  he  appears  not  only  as  the  imita- 
tor of  Horace  Od.  i.  3,  but  also  of  Epod.  i  and  of  Ovid  Am.  ii.  „. 
Of  aU  these  he  is  in  fact  the  imitator,  but  also  of  a  larger  literature 
which  IS  lost  to  us. 

His  use  of  <rxeT\ia<r^di  is  more  immediately  motived,  and  more 
closely  connected  with  the  propempticon  itself  than  is  Horace's 
It  reveals  Itself  more  directly  as  an  outburst  of  grief  on  the  loss  of  his 
tnend,  and  thus  helps  to  show  very  clearly  the  relation  which  Horace 
intended  between  the  two  parts  of  his  poem.  Statius  represents  him- 
self as  upon  the  departing  ship  overcome  with  grief  and  fear  for  his 
fnend  (51  ff.),  to  whom  he  clings  to  the  last  moment.  From  this  the 
transition  to  the  complaint  upon  man's  audacity  in  crossing  the  seas 
IS  very  simple  and  obvious: 

Quis  rude  et  abscissum  mberis  animantibus  aequor 
Fecit  iter,  etc. 

This  passage,  which  corresponds  to  Horace's  Uli  robur  et  aes  triplex 
IS  designated  by  the  poet  himself  as  a  complaint  (conquestio  ^^xerxi- 
<^f^)  by  the  words  of  vs.  77,  iusta  querorsM  of  90  sed  merui  questus 
and  the  whole  passage  might  be  characterized  by  the  injunction  of 
Menander  referred  to  above:  ^erXidau  irph<!  rifv  tvxvp  Stl  fih  ovy 
X'opel  ffe^^p  4>c-K(a,  Bca/^,,.  fi^^ouov.  The  rhetorical  execution  of 
such  indictments  of  fortune  tended  to  become  excessive,  as  in  the  elegy 
of  Ovid,  and  with  their  suggestions  of  wickedness  and  forebodings  of 
danger  and  '-^ath  they  were  Utde  calculated  to  cheer  the  traveler  on 
ms  way.  But  this  is  not  the  point  of  view  from  which  they  must  be 
interpreted:  rather  as  evidences  of  love  and  devotion,  which  cry  out 
upon  the  nature  of  things  as  man  has  made  them. 

So  much  for  Ovid,  and  perhaps  for  others,  but  Horace's  reputation 
for  tactfuhiess  can  be  saved  whole,  I  think,  without  having  recourse  to 
such  considerations.  If  Horace  had  used  explanatory  titles  he  might 
perhaps  have  caUed  this  a  dramatic  lyric.    Its  action  represents  to 


j^^  THE  CLASSICAL  JOURNAL 

us  the  departing  ship,  which  Horace  -P«^f  P;^f^^-"P°;';2iTs 
as  a  Uving  thing,  and  we  shall  therefore  think  of  .t  most  na^Uy  a 
a  shiD  in  motion,  not  an  inanimate  hulk  tethered  to  a  dock.    It  is 
IZ^TJL  i^iunction  for  the  safe  deUvery  of  her  p^aous  height 
Jch  is  to  be  thought  of  as  reaching  the  --  °^  ^^^e^^s 
Only  then,  as  the  ship  fades  from  sight  and  >s  lost  m  *^  ^  «  ^^^ 
he  rive  way  to  his  grief  at  separation,  and  utter  m  reflective  sohloquy 
Ae  thoughts  on  man's  audacity  and  impiety.    They  correspond,  ^ 
^  sure,l  the  conventional  conguestio  of.*e  PropempUcon  but  en  - 
Ployed  ^th  how  much  more  of  art  than  m  Ovid,  or  m  the  Precepts 
Kenander,  and  with  how  much  more  of  the  ei*^«.  which  Pro- 

f essor  Moore  missed.  t.  -r  ^„  « :  c  q  mimed  bv 

But  this,  it  wiU  be  said,  is  fanciful,  good  enough  ,f  ""^'^  ^^^^^  ^^ 
it.  but  the  sort  of  thing  which  is  better  kept  at  a  safe  dasUnc^  ^^ 
pUlogical  interpretation,  or  at  best  launched  -  ^^^^^  *;^J^^ 
reach  L  ear  of  the  docile  undergraduate,  ^ndjo  I  thought  ^sdf 
until  I  reverted  once  more  to  the  conception  which  I  ^av  outhned 
.nrouraeed  bv  the  fact  that  it  was  apparently  shared  by  the  poet  bte 
ZSaf  At  aU  events  it  is  the  conception  of  the  situation  which 
tius  nimseii.    rxi,  au.  reserve  of  Horace 

S,.,i»  ™,e.  »  f, J-^E^.^LTtS,  Z  «*a.  pic.u- 
<"",  Z'ZJl  tegl  o  ie  «.  L  L  0„  «nds  for  s.f. 
3 '0.2  S'Shi.  »d  Zeph,™  .!*..»  ...oH^  b«». 

faHes  in  the  distance  the  imprecations  on  man  s  impiety  are 
^  fi.)?  1 1  midst  of  them  the  ship  finally  vamshes  from  sight. 

Fugit  ecce  vagas  ratis  acta  per  undas 

Paulatim  minor  et  longe  servantia  vincit 

Lumina. 


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